The Kansas City Chiefs gave the Denver Broncos a huge opportunity with their
21-13 victory over the Oakland Raiders on Thursday Night Football. They kept the
AFC West within reach as Denver heads into its final four games of the season.
The Broncos will be one game back from both the Raiders and Chiefs and play both
teams to close out the season. What needs to happen
Winning out will not give the Broncos the AFC West crown. They need to win out
to have a shot, but also need the Chiefs to lose either to the Titans at home
next week or the San Diego Chargers in the final week.
If the Broncos win their final four, Denver will win the AFC West for a sixth
straight season, which is a daunting task, but never count out a reigning Super
Bowl champion from getting on a win streak.
For the home field is a bit harder. Not only the Broncos win their final four,
but the New England Patriots would need to lose two of their final four games.
If all of those happened, the Broncos would beat the Raiders out in a tiebreaker
for the AFC West crown and the Chiefs would fall to the #6 seed and end up with
the #1 overall seed, the Patriots getting the #2 seed.
The door opened a bit with Thursday’s AFC West showdown, now the Broncos just
need to keep pushing it further open with each passing week. All themselves can
do is win games. Focus on the next one and keep playing hard to win.